Home – Page 48 – Economics 274 Fall 2018

China’s lottery boom sparks social fears

Published on January 22, 2013 Author Joshua Benjamin

Millions of Chinese citizens are becoming addicted to state-run lottery systems, which have grown in popularity immensely over the past 30 years. The state-run lottery was created in the 1980’s by Mao’s administration in contradiction to the country’s ban on gambling in order to create a welfare system.

Appreciating RMB

Published on January 22, 2013 Author Mike

William Granruth highlighted the issue with a post on the exchange rate from the WSJ. As followup read the following substantive analysis “The appreciating renminbi” from the VoxEU blog. What is the “real” value of the RMB (= how measure)? Is it (too) weak (= [excessive] trade surplus)? Not surprisingly, the WSJ looks only at… Continue reading Appreciating RMB →

Reeves Center lecture

Published on January 18, 2013 Author Mike

Ron Fuchs of the Reeves Center hosted us in the Watson Pavilion to hear of the China export trade. He privaleged us with the opportunity to handle a piece from the dinner service of Pres George Washington and Gen Robert E Lee on Founders Day. Note the many economic themes: the Chinese government exercise… Continue reading Reeves Center lecture →

Strong growth, but … ?

Published on January 14, 2013 Author Mike

Signs of growth – stronger growth – abound. Car sales are up by double-digits in 2012, and 2013 looks even better, perhaps 20 million units? (The US may hit 15 million, sales in the EU are in freefall.) China is the most important market for both GM and VW. Chinese exports are up, suggesting that… Continue reading Strong growth, but … ? →

Financial Times China Coverage

Published on January 9, 2013 Author Mike

Here is a sample of the news coverage in the Financial Times, the world’s leading English-language newspaper, in that it has more extensive coverage of the world as a whole than any US publication. See “Links” in the right-hand column – you can sign up for a daily email on their China coverage. China Business,… Continue reading Financial Times China Coverage →

World Bank December overview

Published on January 7, 2013 Author Mike

The World Bank issued an economic update on December 19th that highlighted the growth of the western Pacific as a whole — though China is a major part of that. Below I post select points (out of a much longer list). A question we need to keep in mind this term is China’s location in… Continue reading World Bank December overview →

World GDP Shares

Published on December 5, 2012 Author Mike

Here’s a post on the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative economics blog with basic data on the rise of China as a share of global GDP. Note that this is done in PPP (purchasing power parity) terms, which is good at comparing consumption but not necessarily “clout” in global markets, where market exchange rates matter. More come… Continue reading World GDP Shares →